More Than Blueberries and Carrots
by HannahBerrie
Summary: A series of fall and winter-themed prompts featuring our favorite bunny and fox. Just pure fluff, silly bantering, and a whole lot of flirting. Cover art by trashasaurusrex @ tumblr.
1. A(Corn)Mazing

It was an average fall day in Bunnyburrow; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the population count was rising by the minute, and for Judy and Nick, it was officially banter-o'clock.

"I LIVE corn," Judy insisted.

"You live carrots, Carrots," Nick corrected her, arms folded across his chest.

"I grew up on a farm, it's all the same thing."

"I'm pretty sure a corn maze is a lot different than a carrot maze, sweetheart."

They were standing in front of the entrance to the corn maze, one of the most advertised features of Bunnyburrow's Carrot Days Harvest Festival. The title was a mouthful — Nick had chosen to refer to it as "Bunny Fest" — because there were bunnies everywhere. Bunnies bobbing for carrots, bunnies munching on caramel-coated carrots, bunnies knocking over milk bottles to win stuffed carrot-shaped toys, bunnies running over his tail and between his legs, baby bunnies mistaking said tail for a carrot, bunnies using their violet eyes and little pout to try to lure him into the corn maze of probable death.

"C'mon, Nick!" The violet-eyed bunny pleaded, "I can't go in alone — it's no fun! Don't be a baby!"

He scoffed defensively. "I'm not being a baby! Corn mazes are death traps, Fluff! Haven't you seen Kits of the Corn?"

"No! Besides, that's just a movie, and you're being a dumb fox."

He placed a paw over his heart. "I'm just looking out for my own life, Carrots, and yours. You should be thanking me, actually, for being so sweet and protecting you from being attacked by corn-kits."

Judy wasn't buying it. Nick should have known that the more he resisted, the sooner she was going to resort to drastic measures.

So she did.

The little bunny placed her paws on the hips of her worn blue jeans and started to make this sickly adorable whine, batting her teary lashes up at him innocently and sniffling her nose.

"Stop that!" Nick groaned, trying (and failing) to look away. "No fake crying!"

"Pleaseeeeeee?" She sniffled, ducking her head and looking up at him shyly.

If Nick had been on duty, he definitely would have arrested her for being illegally adorable. Or entrapment. Something.

He sighed, paw lowering to fiddle in his pocket. "Do I have to?"

She smiled hopefully. "You'd be the best boyfriend in the history of the world!"

The fox smiled dryly. "Well, I can't give up that title, can I?"

She shook her head insistently. "You really can't."

"Alright then," Nick shrugged, darting forward and scooping the small bunny off the ground and onto his shoulders, "let's go."

Judy brightened up instantly, cheering as she held onto the bases of his ears. Her legs draped over his shoulders as he carried her into the maze, and she snickered softly. "Sucker," she teased, nudging his ear gently.

"Shut up."

"If I shut up I can't tell you that I love you."

Nick paused. "…I guess you can say that."

Judy snorted and rested her chin on his head. "Okay, make a left at the next fork."

Nick rubbed her ankle affectionately. "You sure you know where you're going, babe? I wanna have time to do more stuff after this."

"Like what?"

"The ferris wheel looked like a lot of fun."

"Oh! Well, don't worry, I've been doing this maze every year since I was a kit! We'll be out in a jiffy!"

And, of course, that jinxed it, because over an hour later, they were lost, as they had been for basically the entire time they were in the maze.

They kept walking in circles — every left they made felt like it brought them right and every right they made led them to a dead end or another left. The sun was starting to set, and Nick could feel his fur prickling from the growing chill in the air. Judy had departed his shoulders after the half-hour mark and was now holding his paw, leading him through the maze as best she could (which wasn't the best).

"Didn't we pass this stalk of corn already?" She asked worriedly, though it was more to herself than the fox.

"Hate to break it to ya', Fluff, but literally every stalk of corn here looks the same," Nick sighed, starting to get antsy. He glanced up at the sky, which was beginning to fade from a warm peach to a deep indigo. "Bunny Fest is gonna close soon, and I kinda wanted to ride that ferris wheel…"

"Don't worry!" Judy assured him, turning to look back over her shoulder at him, "I've totally got this! They probably just changed it a tiny bit, that's all!"

He raised an eyebrow. "A tiny bit?"

She smiled weakly. "A big bit?"

"Well," Nick frowned, inspecting the corn thoughtfully, "we should figure out a way to mark which path we took, so we won't keep walking in circles. My feet are getting sore."

"Oh!" Judy's eyes lit up. "We could leave a trail of breadcrumbs!"

Nick smiled teasingly at her. "Great idea, Fluff! One problem: I left my loaf of bread in my other pants."

Judy gave him an exasperated look. "Nick, can you stay with me for 5 seconds here? We need to get out of this maze and I'm starting to freak out!"

Nick gave her paw a squeeze. "You know I can't help teasing you," he said light-heartedly, "and hey! If push comes to shove, we could just light the whole thing on fire and burn our way out."

Judy snorted. "Too bad I left my flamethrower in my other pair of pants."

"I think you're hot enough to do the trick," Nick smirked, though his tone remained completely conversational.

Judy groaned and buried her face in her paws. "Nick, that was terrible. Like, really terrible."

"I know. You still liked it though."

"Barely."

"A lot."

"A little."

He grinned. "Good enough."

* * *

As much as Nick tried to stay positive for Judy, he could tell as another half hour went by that she was starting to lose hope. Her ears were droopy, her steps were heavy, and she didn't even attempt to fake-laugh at his jokes, just huffed and kept walking. It all came to a breaking point when she was certain she'd finally found her way out, only to be met with a mockingly dead end. She thumped her foot and began making this odd sort of high-pitched squeaking sound he assumed was some sort of rabbit distress call. The sound would have been nearly amusing if she wasn't actually upset. Her eyes started to water, and as much as she tried to look strong, Nick knew the frustration had gotten to her.

Judy was so used to being good at everything, to proving she was worth more than her size, to being the valedictorian of her class, to being one of the top cops at the ZPD — she never handled flat-out failure well. Nick had learned this very quickly during a Monopoly game night. After landing on his Boardwalk hotel, twice, she was about ready to flip the whole board over.

"I'm so sorry Nick," Judy now sniffed, paws wiping at her eyes frantically as the tears threatened to fall. "I have no clue where we're going! This was all my idea and I forced you to come and now we're lost and it's dark and you're probably so mad at me all because I acted so dumb and it's all my fault and I failed and—"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Nick cut her off by placing his paw on her shoulder and getting down on one knee so they were at each other's eye level. Judy looked up at him nervously, and he responded with a soft smile. "You're not dumb. And you didn't force me, I want to spend time with ya', Judes."

"I know, but—"

"No buts. We have our phones, we can just call one of your siblings to help. It's not the end of the world."

"But Carrot Days is almost over! And you said you still wanted to ride the ferris wheel, but now we won't have time…"

"Don't worry about that, " Nick hesitated, paw lowering to fiddle in his pocket again, "the ferris wheel….it wasn't that important. I mean, it kinda was, but it's not that big of a deal…"

Judy's sniffles paused as she looked slightly confused. "Then why did you want to go so bad? And what does kinda important mean?"

"You're always so full of questions," Nick said dryly, eyeing her when she smiled unashamedly.

"Of course, it's me, after all!…Are you sure you're okay, Slick?" She asked, looking down at him gently. "You look a little ruffled."

Nick took a deep breath. "It's just…I kinda had this whole big thing planned…"

"Like a surprise?"

"Yeah, like a surprise…"

"Well…you could just surprise me now," she offered, "at least then something good would come out of this disaster maze."

Nick looked unsure, but upon glancing at the beautiful bunny smiling down at him, face still flushed from her sniffling, violet eyes shining with warmth, and downy fur reflecting the orange glow of the sunset, he knew that he didn't want to wait for some grand, 'perfect' moment. All he needed was her, and here she was. They could be high above the clouds, or down in the corn and mud, and he would have been happy.

"Well," Nick began, slowly removing his paw from his pocket, "I had planned on this being more romantic, we were going to go up on the Ferris Wheel and stop at the top and everything, but since I'm already on my knees and you're so impatient…"

Judy cocked her head to the side. "What are you talking about, Nick? And I'm not impatient! I just like things to get done fast and I don't really see the point in waiting for something when—"

She stopped when she saw him remove a silver ring from his pocket, holding it up to her with a slightly shaky paw. It was a simple band with a faded shine, like it was an older piece of jewelry that'd been attempted to been polished back to its original sheen. A single, small diamond rested in the center, faintly reflecting the pink, oranges, and deep purples in the sky. The bunny stopped talking immediately as she looked back and forth between the ring and the nervous-looking fox.

"Judy, we've known each other for a long time now, and ever since you entered my life, I — ""

"YES!" Judy gasped, cutting him off mid-sentence and tackling him to the ground in a tight hug. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Nick laughed as he caught her. "You didn't even let me finish! That was going to be one hell of a proposal speech, Fluff."

"I know!" She giggled, nuzzling her face into his chest. "But I love you! And you're amazing and I'm so happy and I want to marry you! So yes!"

Nick smiled as he cradled the weight of her in his arms, pulling back only to slip the ring on her paw. "I know it's not the fanciest-looking ring," he explained as she watched him put it on her, "but it was my mom's — she really wanted you to have it."

"It's beautiful," Judy assured him, eyes sparkling with a new kind of tears. She beamed at him as she admired the ring, then turned back to give him a tight hug. "You're beautiful."

Nick snorted and laughed, feeling slightly delirious as feelings of marriage and true love set in. She'd said yes. She was going to marry him, him being a lowly fox that she'd nearly literally dragged out of the gutter. Her best friend, her partner. "You know I love you, right, Judes?" He mumbled into her shoulder, nuzzling his muzzle into the crook of her neck. "Like, even more than blueberries, love you."

"Of course I do!" Judy giggled, "Now shut up and kiss me."

So he did.


	2. Room to Fall

"Elaina, will you go to homecoming with me?" The young buck asked dramatically, holding out a ridiculously large bouquet of flowers.

"Yes, _yes!"_ His girlfriend cried, _actually cried,_ like it was a marriage proposal or an ivy college acceptance letter.

Judy frowned as she chomped down on her sliced carrots, pretending she wasn't completely perturbed by it all. While she wasn't a cynical mammal, she definitely didn't see why all these couples had to make a giant show of asking each other to this weekend's homecoming dance. Yes, they were happy together, but did they have to parade it in everyone's faces?

The cafeteria erupted into applause as the third homecoming proposal of the week ended with a wet, sloppy kiss. As Judy watched, she felt an odd churning in the pit of her stomach, and she nearly bit down on her own tongue when she tried (and missed) to take another bite of her carrots.

So what if no one had asked her to the dance yet, right? Not everyone got asked. Well, except for all her siblings…and cousins….even the weird ram who sat in the back of her math class and shouted out offensive jokes had a homecoming date. And he was _terrible._

So what did that say about her?

Finding herself no longer hungry, Judy frowned and crumpled up her paper lunch bag, making sure to drop it in the recycling bin as she left the cafeteria quickly.

 _You don't need to go to homecoming,_ she assured herself as she maneuvered through the crowded hall. She was too focused on studying and becoming a police officer. Why should she waste time with poofy dresses and dancing in some sweaty gym when she could be memorizing the constitutional amendments? Or practicing reading suspects their rights?

And yet, as her gaze flitted to all the couples walking paw-in-paw, crooning over each other, posting selfies of kissing each other, cuddling in the hallways together…

She had never really thought about relationships and love and all that — when her sisters were drooling over the cute rabbit down the block, she'd been busy thinking about cop cars and trials and investigations. But high school had proven to be difficult. Everyone seemed obsessed with who was with who and she was frankly sick of it.

And yet, deep, deep, down…she couldn't help but feel like she was missing out. Like going to the dance with someone…maybe…possibly…could be fun.

"Oh, Judy," she sighed under her breath, stopping at her locker and fiddling with the lock, "don't be such a dumb bunny."

"Hiya, Fluff!" A voice greeted suddenly. She looked up to see Nick smirking at her as he fell back and leaned on the locker beside her. "How's it hangin'?"

Judy groaned. She was already having a less-than-perfect day, the last thing she needed was Nick, the absolute most frustratingly annoying mammal in the world, _nagging_ her. "Go away."

Nick placed a paw over his heart as she opened her locker door. "So harsh for such a small bunny! You're breaking my heart, sweetheart."

The bunny rolled her eyes. "What do you want Nick?"

"Just making conversation," He shrugged, examining the claws of his left paw, "You looked upset."

"I'm fine."

"Your ears are droopy, and I'm pretty sure I saw you throw away an entire bag of carrots."

She removed her Chemistry textbook from her bag and set it in her locker. "What, are you stalking me now?"

He snorted. "You wish, Fluff. I just happened to be in the cafeteria the same time you were."

"Convenient. I guess you saw Jackson and Elaina then?"

"I think it was kinda hard not to. The guy literally stood up on a table, in front of the entire room, and shouted for everyone to be quiet. Still not as bad as Sam last week, when he pulled out that speaker and started playing 'What Makes You Beautiful,' but it was pretty close. Either way, he wasn't subtle, like, at all."

Judy gave a huff of a laugh and shook her head. "I guess not."

She could feel Nick's eyes examining her, but she kept her gaze on the contents of her locker, not really searching for anything. It didn't help that the fox was being incredibly distracting. She could feel the end of Nick's tail flicking against her leg, smell the stupid firewood smoke musk he always wore, and sense the weird charge in the air. He was so much different than her, she'd heard all about his adventures in delinquency from all her friends. And yet, whenever they were together, it felt like the shaking force between two opposite magnets, a force trying to be controlled, to be stopped from coming together.

"So, you into that kinda thing?" Nick asked.

She jumped a little, paranoid for a moment that Nick could read her thoughts. "W-what?"

"Homecoming," he smirked, "not drugs or something, if that's what you're thinking."

"That wasn't what I was thinking!" Judy insisted, finally turning her head to look at him. Her gaze met his playful emerald one, and she found herself slightly entranced.

 _Frustrating,_ she kept repeating her in head, _Annoying, unbearable, cocky, snarky —_

 _Admittedly attractive._

"I don't know," Judy continued in response to his question, "I haven't really thought about it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"Really," she lied.

"So no one's asked you yet?"

She considered lying again, but by the way he was grinning at her, she was pretty sure he'd caught onto the last lie already. "Nope," she admitted, before quickly adding, "but it's fine! I didn't really want to go anyway, it looked really…cheesy."

"Aw, c'mon. I thought you bunnies ate that stuff up."

She raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Like, every bunny in school has a date, is what I mean."

Judy nearly flinched at the familiar sting of jealously and loneliness. "Well, I guess no one wants to go with me," she said dryly, grabbing her History and English textbooks. She turned her back towards Nick as she shut her locker door and turned to walk away from him.

She expected him to mock her, to laugh and say something like, "Obviously, Fluff," or, "Who would, Carrots?" Something snarky, anything.

Instead—

"Well, you know, we could go together."

He said it quickly, conversationally, and without a hint of hesitation. The question slid out and hung in the air, causing Judy to freeze in her tracks, back still turned.

 _Go together? As in a date? As in, Nicholas Wilde_ liked _her?_

She hated herself for blushing and even worse, _smiling._

"Are you… _asking me out?"_ She asked slowly, turning to look at him with a disbelieving smile. "Like, on a date?"

He rolled his eyes. "Keep it in your pants, Fluff. I'm simply taking pity on a lowly bunny like yourself. I figured someone so adorable shouldn't be left alone on homecoming night."

Judy snorted. "How noble of you."

"Just doing my part," he assured her, walking closer to her, paws resting in the pockets of his faded jeans.

She folded her arms over her chest, pressing the books she held over her fluttering heart. "Do you even _own_ a tux, Wilde?"

He shrugged. "Do you even own a dress, Hopps?"

She blushed harder. "Touché…"

"So? Do I have a yes?" Nick asked, voice tinged with just a _hint_ of eagerness.

Going to homecoming with Nick. Dancing with Nick. Taking selfies with Nick. Holding paws with Nick. Kissing Nick?

She felt her toes curl and her ears grow hot at the last thought. She was probably getting ahead of herself, but if she was going to be honest, the idea was a little more than merely intriguing…

"I suppose," she said casually, shrugging her shoulders with an indifference that didn't convey the way her insides were flipping right now. "If you promise to be a gentlefox."

"I'll see what I can do," Nick said wryly, giving her a playful nudge.

"Then I guess it's a date," Judy smiled, mouth sweetening on the last word. A _date._ Her tongue flitted across the word and she couldn't help but beam at him.

"Yeah…" Nick hesitated, scratched at the underside of his muzzle. "I know this isn't some grand promposal like our buddy Jackson back there, but —""

"It's better," Judy finished for him. And it was true. Standing in some random hallway, leaning up against the washed-out blue lockers, breathing in his musk, feeling his tail swish against her legs, leaning slightly closer, tingling with that magnetic charge —

It was far more exciting than showboat flowers or a One Purrection song in some dingy cafeteria.

They held a mutual smile for a moment before Nick pulled back with a cough, seemingly collecting himself.

"So…see ya' Saturday night then?" Nick asked, starting to back away with a hopeful smile. Cheese and crackers, he looked adorable when he really smiled.

Judy nodded eagerly, not meaning to seem so excited. "Y-yeah!" She insisted, brushing her ears down with a paw, "see you then!"

Nick kept backing away, gaze still on hers, "You won't ditch and screw me over, right?"

"No!" Judy insisted sincerely, "I would never screw you!"

He fought back a laugh, "What was that, darlin'?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant."

"So does that mean screwing is completely off the table? Because if you wanted—"

Judy gave him a look.

He grinned toothily. "Right. Sorry." In the process of exiting, he backed right into a trash can and nearly fell backwards into it, saved only by his quick reflexes.

Judy burst into giggles, causing Nick's ears to fly straight up as he threw her an embarrassed smile. "Pretend you didn't see that, sweetheart."

Judy shrugged, fighting back laughter as her shoulders shook. "See what?"

He winked at her, and her heart skipped a beat. "Good bunny. I gotta reputation to keep up, ya' know? Can't have people knowing I'm tripping over trash cans because of a cute lil' bunny."

The bell for the end of the lunch period rang, and Judy shook her head. "See you Saturday, dumb fox."

Nick gave her one last wave before he slunk off, disappearing into the sea of students that rushed into the hall.

 _Dumb fox,_ Judy thought with a smile as she hurried to her history class, humming one of Gazelle's pop hits under her breath. He was an idiot sometimes, really, and yet she still was humming love songs and already planning out an itinerary for homecoming night.

So what did that say about her?

She took a seat in her classroom, set out her black, blue, and red pens in their proper order, opened her notebook to a fresh page.

It said that she was, possibly, probably, potentially crushing on a fox. On Nick Wilde, delinquent, smug, rebellious. That maybe, she just might have room for romance in her dreams. Room for a place to fall, for heather-gray t-shirts and frayed flannel, for firewood musk and soft red fur, for snarky jokes and playful banter.

So she took a breath, steadied herself, and let the magnetic electricity grow.


End file.
